Rocky Mountain Photoshoot

Jacques Marais is a wonder behind the lens and a longtime customer here at BikeHut. The last time we did a shoot together was when I opened the store in 2003 - a little something for Sports Illustrated. A finalist in RedBull's extreme sports photographer of the year, it's little wonder then that he'd be roped in to shoot for the South African Rocky Mountain ad campaign. He is afterall riding a Rocky Mountain ETSX70 himself. What's cool is that Rocky Mountain SA decided to use local riders to feature their series of bikes: Geddon Ruddock (ETSX), Mathius Beukes (Element), Justin Novella (RMX) and yours truely on the Slayer that I mentioned in a previous blog post. Man was I itching to ride that bike!

We're riding different bikes of course, showcasing the steeds from Rocky's stable of XC to DH rigs and everything in between. I had the enviable duty of showcasing the all-mountain trail category. I'm no XC whippet and having retired from DH racing a couple years back, I'm an average joe singletrack junkie with a penchant for what some would call "freeriding" or aggressive cross-country riding. Heck, this is mountain biking as I know it for as long as I can remember riding Tokai on a fully-rigid back in 89...

The weather was a bit dodgy - well ok - the weather was really dodgy, but as a puppet you gotta deliver the goods when Jacques shouts "one more time Steve, but can you..." while negotiating slippery rocks or steeps. Doing this kind of thing is quite the rush, we didn't fake any shots and chose lines that we'd ride to show off the bikes. The XC guys had it easy, but plonk yourself on a longer travel bike like the Slayer (which is 6") and Mr. Marais wants steeper, rockier, gnarlier action for his hungry lens. You can see why shooting a mountain bike movie requires exotic locations and big budgets.

I must say that the Slayer is one heck of a bike. It's got the looks and performance to boot. This is no poser bike - swing a leg over this and you're destined to blow your own mind. It's not often that you ride a bike and feel immediately at home. Like a comfortably fimiliar pair of "jeans pants" I had no problem seeking out lines and riding them first time on the Slayer. Bear in mind, there's no time to get used to a bike when you're called into duty like this. It's climb aboard and ride straight away - what the photographer wants he must get for that all important money shot. So, I was pretty relieved when the Slayer felt neutral and confidence inspiring in light of my recovering shoulder injury sustained last year. No matter how attractive the prospect of a possible cover shot I didn't want to sit the rest of this year out with another injury due to an over-eager ego. One big crash and it's "Good night Nurse!".

The Slayer 50 is an awesome all-rounder: it climbs well with it's customed tuned Fox RP23 rear shock and with the stiff-and-plush Marzocchi All Mountain 1 with ETA and TST upfront, with SRAM handling all the shifting duties one could easily adopt a bike like this for every kind of riding.

Legends of the Fall

After three and half years we bid farewell to Ian who makes the fourth member of our team to fall foul of Cape Cycle Systems head hunting policy - I bet no one else can boast that feat. I'm kinda flattered by that in a way but at the same time I consider the personal investment (& otherwise) that I've made in many ways and I wonder in my quieter moments if it was all worth it. I don't like it when staff leave - I consider them far more than that. I guess I take these things too personally but then again I can't see myself being any other way. It's good to know that our skills are recognised elsewhere in the industry.

I once heard that the way you leave is the way you'll enter. Stickability seems to be a dying trait nowadays and I congratulate Ian on demonstrating that at least. I hope CSS get's the same kind of loyalty from him - RockShox could sure do with the help...

Without a beat Mike has stepped up to the plate - a great show of enthusiasm, willingness and intuition from our young mechanic whose training at Westlake College is proving that he's a thinking man with a maturing head on his young shoulders. (I hope CSS aren't reading my blog!)

BikeHut is a living organism - change is inevitable and there are great things on the horizon. I'm boyed by the move forward and I'm proud to say that BikeHut is becoming all that I planned it to be. Well, I have been working on it since 2003!